


She Understood This

by JazzHands



Category: Being Human, Being Human (UK)
Genre: F/M, If everyone lived, Resolved Sexual Tension, because someone had to
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-02
Updated: 2013-04-02
Packaged: 2017-12-07 06:41:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/745479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JazzHands/pseuds/JazzHands
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Six weeks into her self-imposed banishment she caught sight of him walking away from the food court she worked in. It was the only indication that he had survived and that he was, like always, watching her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	She Understood This

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally a series of anon messages which I posted on tumblr over the space of a few hours. In the end I decided to post it here because more Rook x Natasha is needed.
> 
> It's set in an AU, after series 5, where everything was resolved without death or apocalypse. Imagine that!

Natasha remembered the few times he had shown up in her day to day life, never staying long enough to be noticed by anyone but her. He was just a face in the crowd when she bunked off from school or pale eyes glaring at men she danced with in tacky nightclubs.  
  
To be like family was to be involved in each other’s lives but he was never involved when she was growing up; he merely observed. Dominic Rook didn’t send birthday cards or offer up advice to teenage girls. He had more important things to do with his time. She knew this and understood.  
  
She didn’t think of him as a substitute father figure or caring older brother type. There was no way to describe what he was to her. At one stage she had tried to think of him as ‘mentor’ or ‘boss’ but it wasn’t right. She didn’t take orders very well and, as it turned out that when it came to her, he wasn't very good at giving them.  
  
So she had left Barry and in doing so she also left Dominic. Six weeks into her self-imposed banishment she caught sight of him walking away from the food court she worked in. It was the only indication that he had survived and that he was, like always, watching her.

****************************

It had been three months since she had let Hal feed on her. The scaring was small but it was enough to put her off having partners. She didn’t want to have to explain it to someone as they were sliding a hand up her inner thigh. Her fingers would ghost over the scars as she gazed out the window of her bedsit. The old bite flared with a slight pain as, one day, a familiar grey suit exited the corner shop at the end of her road. Natasha watched as he climbed into his car and sat there looking in her direction. At this distance she couldn’t make out the expression on his face but she didn’t need to – it would be one of calm indifference and perhaps boredom. Why couldn’t he just let her go? As though hearing Natasha’s thoughts, the car pulled away and turned around, taking care not to pass her home.  
  
A few moments later a soft chime sounded in the room. Her phone, one bought from a supermarket and filled it an unregistered sim, light up with a message.  
  
 _I’m sorry, Tasha._  
  
It wasn’t signed nor did she recognise the number but she knew it was from him. It took a brave person to allow a vampire to feed on them as Natasha had done but it still took her nearly three hours to respond to the message. There was no way to know if he had dumped the phone or not but for her own sense of closure she needed to text back.  
  
 _You never even asked where he fed from, Dominic. You didn’t care then so don’t care now. Please just let me go._  
  
As she tried to sleep that night she clutched the phone to her chest and prayed to wake up in the morning with no memory of blue eyes or tailored suits. With no response from him by the morning she was sure that he had either not cared to check the phone or had done precisely what she asked. However, Natasha had learned to never be sure about anything when it came to that man. It took him a day to reply. As dusk fell and her bedsit grew dark the unfamiliar chime sent her heart racing.  
  
 _I won’t do that, I can’t._  
  
At first Natasha couldn’t work out what he was referring to. She re-read the six words over and over before it clicked. _Please just let me go._ That's what she had asked for.  
  
 _I won’t do that, I can’t._  
  
It was too dark outside to see if any of the parked cars were inhabited. Without thinking about the consequences she pulled a jumper on and raced out to the road and began making her way to where she had seen him parked before. Even as it started to rain she checked each car, certain that he would have only reached out to her again if he was within viewing distance but he wasn’t here and Natasha was too tired to hold in the tears anymore. She stumbled from the pavement into the road, not seeing the headlights in the rain as they came towards her.  
  
Arms encircled her from behind and pulled her back to safety. She could do nothing but shake her head as she continued to quietly sob into her hands. His breathing was erratic and panicked near her ear. With a deep breath she pulled herself together and turned in the grey arms. His tie, always so tight and central was loose and wonky. Distantly Natasha noted that he looked so much younger with his hair forward and messy rather that parted to the side.  
  
They were both now soaked to the bone but all either of them could do was stare at the other - their arms entangled. Without saying a word, Dominic pulled back and slowly backed away.  
  
It had been the last thing she had seen of him in Barry, his back as he walked away after threatening her. “Don’t you dare walk away from me again.” She almost didn’t recognise her own voice. Natasha the child, Natasha the delinquent, Natasha the bait. All gone, all dead.  
  
Their's had always been an unequal relationship but now she was a person in her own right. Not a ward of the state or a potential member of the DoDD. They were both adults just trying to identify each other. Natasha remembered the feel of his arms around her, the thoughts and feelings associated with it was worlds away from the memories of him saving her in the tunnel all those years ago. Something rushed up through her chest and for a moment she couldn't breath. It must have shown on her face as Dominic took steps forward and reached a hand out to steady her.  
  
“You need to sit down, Tasha.” His eyes gave nothing away but the crease between them spoke of concern.  
  
“You said you won't let me go.”  
  
He didn't answer only observed. She took his hand between both of her's and pulled slightly. “You're coming back to mine.”  
  
“No,” the hand between her's clenched, “that would not be a good idea.”  
  
“After what's happened I think I deserve a proper face to face apology, and one not in the fucking rain. So if you don't mind I want a conversation with you that didn't involve all your shit!” The fight visibly drained from his frame and with a pinch to the bridge of his nose, he nodded. For the first time since they met, Natasha was in charge. She wouldn't let that change without a fight.  
  
Apart from the first time that had met, touching wasn't something they did. Natasha tried not to think about the hand in hers as she led him into her bedsit. The lights stayed off except for the small lamp on the table which doubled as a desk, dresser and cooking surface. She was grateful that she had decided to tidy the room earlier in the day.  
  
Neither had spoken as he shed his jacket and she removed her jumper and placed it over the radiator. That had been twelve minutes ago and yet they still sat in silence. Finally with a sigh, Dominic spoke. “You're going to make me ask where, aren't you?”  
  
When she had pulled the jumper over her head leaving on only a tank top, his eyes had tracked over her arms, shoulders and neck searching for marks. She had always planned to tell him and, depending where the conversation took place, to show him but there was something she could see in his eyes which made her take a different route. She was tired of other people making choices for her.  
  
As casually as she could, Natasha took his hand again and placed it on her bare leg just below the hem of her short skirt. He flinched and finally looked her in the eyes. “Tasha, this isn't right,” he whispered but didn't pull away. Slowly she slid his hand up until his finger tips touched the scar tissue near her inner thigh.  
  
“Even though it was Hal who gave them to me, it's always you I think of when I touch them.” Natasha watched him swallow hard and then snatch his hand back. In a blink he had reached the door and rested his head against it with his back to the room.

“Further proof that I am a terrible, broken man.” He turned to face the woman on the bed. “It's no wonder you want me to leave you alone.”  
  
She couldn't look away from his eyes. They had always been his best feature but in the half light, glassy with tears, she had never seen him so beautiful. “That isn't what I want. What I want is for this bloody limbo to end one way or another. I want- I need you to choose. Today's the last day you sit outside my home or work and watch from a distance, alright? Starting tomorrow, you either stay the hell away from me or-” She watched as Dominic tilted his head slightly and listened to her demands. He had already said he wouldn't leave her alone, that he couldn't. Her heart pounded in her ears as she thought about the alternative.  
  
They weren't family and they weren't friends. They tried to be but that had become strained since she had given up on college or university. They would never be work colleagues, not with Barry hanging between them.  
  
No, they weren't many things to each other yet somehow they ended up as the most important person in each other's lives. She almost smiled as she climbed from the bed and approached him. After all, Dominic Rook had faced all sorts of evil in his life and yet he stood in a state of terror as a twenty two year old placed her hand against his chest.  
“Stay, Dominic.” The words were gentle. “Decide tomorrow, yeah? And just stay here with me tonight, with someone just as broken as you are.”  
  
“You can't mean-” He couldn't finish the sentence. His eyes danced over her face searching for something neither could voice properly. “Tasha...”  
  
She had never heard anyone speak her name like that before – pleading and warning at the same time. She could see a terrible battle going on in him. Everything that had happened with the department and the archive had taken the sense of duty and pride which he had always carried within himself and twisted it into something cancerous. She wanted to save him from the darkness.  
  
His concentration on her face was so intense that she had finished unbuttoning his waistcoat before his hands trapped hers against his chest. “You're better off without me. We've already established that, Natasha, you would be safer without me in your life.”  
  
“It's not what you want though, is it? Do you know what I want? Rather than remember the hands and lips of a blood drinking corpse - I want to remember you because, for fuck's sake, we have tried everything else and nothing works and if this goes the same way then tomorrow we'll start again. We always do.”  
  
“There would be no coming back from this.” She knew he was right, he always was. His eyes dipped to her lips and in that moment she had made her mind up. She wanted to say he tasted of tea and rain but she had only pressed her lips against his for a few seconds. As she pulled back Dominic rolled his head back against the door and, with his eyes closed, spoke almost to himself. “I couldn't let you go when you hated me. I shall be even more of a nuisance after this.”  
Her feet left the ground as he picked her up. Her skirt bunched up as she wrapped her legs around his narrow hips. He spoke between kisses. “We're going to regret this.”  
  
“No more than the other shit we've been through.” She felt the mattress against her back and opened her eyes. “Just don't think about the darkness, Dominic. Don't look at the monsters.” He was looking down at her - one knee on the bed, a hand barely touching the mattress beside her. His lips turned up in a slight smile as he nodded once to her comment and slid his hand up her bare thigh.

*****************************************

The birds were singing. It must have been about 3am in the morning and Natasha still couldn't sleep. Spooned behind her, Dominic sighed into her hair as his fingers gently traced the scars near the junction of her legs. She should be embarrassed, perhaps a little self-conscious about their nudity but there wasn't an inch of her he had now not seen.

His lips had pressed against the scars, even biting down slightly as though to make them his. He had whispered against her skin, something which she was sure had been an apology but hadn't asked him to repeat it.  
  
He was an intense man, something which gave him an advantage when dealing with people. Many shied away from him, not wanting to be the focus of his intensity but Natasha knew of nothing else. Originally it had been mild concern mixed with curiosity and professional analysis. In her teens it had become frustration with her attitude and an almost confused concern for her safety. Now it was desperation and relief. To be noticed by Dominic Rook was, for her, to be alive.  
In the twilight of her bedsit she had revelled in his gaze. Maybe she had been expecting him to treat her like his paperwork; to be completed with a quiet, steady determination with all things done in precise order and procedure. Maybe she had expected him to need instruction. She was sure she was the more experienced out of the two of them but then he had always been a hard one to read.  
  
She stopped second guessing him and gave as good as she got, determined to break him before he broke her. He had always been so calm and collected in their dealings even when faced with such horrors and threats so the shaking, panting man in her arms was a gift. The tightening of his grip on her, her name said almost in prayer, none of it was to be taken lightly. She knew and understood this.  
  
“I'm thinking of becoming a teacher.” Natasha broke the silence and for a moment his fingers stopped their dance over her skin. “Or a hairdresser, I haven't decided. Which one would be more me?”  
  
He pulled her closer to his chest and hummed slightly into her hair. “That's not for me to decide, Tasha.”  
  
“Yeah, no. You're right.” She wanted to ask if he had decided about the other thing. The morning was fast approaching and for all she knew this was the last she would ever see of him. Her back arched of its own accord as he bit her neck gently. A shudder ran through her and she felt him answer. No one was allowed to touch her neck and she knew he had the same rule. Strange how it didn't seem to apply this time. The dark marks decorating his clavicle were a testament to his trust.  
  
“Have you ever been to Scotland?” The question came out of nowhere and Natasha almost turned over to pull a face at him.  
  
“You know I haven't. Why do you ask?”  
  
“I have family there. Very distant family on my mother's cousin's side or what not. I've been thinking about going up for there for a while.”  
  
“For work?”  
  
“Personal time.”  
  
Now she did turn over. He didn't open his eyes even as she let the silence build up for a few minutes. “You don't ever take time off work.”  
  
“Well, maybe I should have.” This time she didn't respond, only observed. Dominic sighed again and slowly opened his eyes. “You're going to make me ask, aren't you?”  
Natasha smiled. The rules of the game had changed but they were adapting well and it looked like he had made his decision, after all. “Do you want to go Scotland for a few days, maybe a week? With me?” He was waiting for her to turn him down, to tell him to get dressed and never show his face again.  
  
She stroked a hand across his cheek and watched him try not to react. “When are we leaving?”  
  
He smiled in a way she had never seen before. “Whenever you want. But not right now, I think. I’m far too comfortable.” He pulled her back into his arms and pressed a kiss against her temple.

End.


End file.
